Saskatoon snow sculptors embrace Norwegian gnome tradition for Christmas-time 'self-portrait'

A pair of snow gnomes is pictured Jan. 5, 2022. (Chad Hills/CTV News)

Theressa Wright was scraping together the snow on her front yard and realized she would only be able to build something tall and skinny.

The Christmas-time tradition of Norwegian gnomes seemed fitting.

"When we're really bundled up and we're outside carving, you really can't tell who's who other than, you know, you're all bundled up and you've got different hats," she said in a phone interview with CTV News.

"So that's kind of where it came from, is that we're kind of like snow gnomes when we're outside carving. So it's kind of a self-portrait in a way."

Wright has been carving snow competitively for 27 years, with her husband Terry Ouellette joining in for the past decade and a half.

"I tried doing the first one by myself and packing it, throwing it in and stopping it and building it up, and I got it off to a crooked start," Wright said of the gnomes.

"So we got one that's crooked. And then the next day, my husband got out and helped me pack it that was a lot straighter. But it's a matter of throwing snow into a form to soften it down somehow, to condense it and to pack it so it'll stand up. And it's fairly time-consuming. It's like stomping grapes, but snow instead."

They worked hours outside in bone-chilling temperatures, tapping out only when the mercury hit -32 C.

"You've got to work in layers, and you got to keep moving or you freeze."

When they go to competitions, they must carve for up to 10 hours without stopping, whether the conditions are above 0 or blasting them with a wind chill of -45 or -50. Dressing in layers is key, Ouellette said.

"When we travel or when we do a carving, we usually take three or four or five pairs of mittens and a couple of toques and so you're changing them out so they have a chance to dry."

They'll be competing at the World Snow Sculpting Championship in Minnesota in two weeks, with a creation inspired by the teddy bear that turned heads in Saskatoon last year.

Their entry proposal describes the scene as a "warm, welcoming group hug for family and friends. It portrays the feeling of being safe and comforted in the teddy bear's big embrace. A warm-hearted hug for a cool snow carving competition is sure to brighten everybody's day."

"It's nice to meet other people who like being outside, it's nice to do a sculpture in a reasonably short amount of time, that's really big and monumental and can be seen by a lot of people. And then there's the element of travelling to other locations," Wright said.